Background Scripture: Psalm 103: 8-12 Meditation Scriptures: Jeremiah 31: 33-34; Isaiah 43: 25; Micah 7: 18-19
May is a nostalgic month for me. There are so many things worth remembering in life. Of course, there is Mother's Day. I am blessed to still have my mother with me, still making memories to treasure, and they become funnier, warmer, and richer with each passing year. Then there are the graduations, which conjure up memories of excitement, hopes and dreams I had as I passed each milestone in my educational process. Last, but not least, there is Memorial Day itself, when we all should turn our thoughts toward the sacrifices made so that we can enjoy the freedoms we so often take for granted. I am too young to remember very much of the war in Vietnam, and I never really got to know any WWII veterans, but I was close to some Gulf War soldiers, and the first-hand accounts of their experiences changed my attitude toward war forever. Yes, there is much worth remembering in life. But there is a great deal more which is not worth remembering at all. Unfortunately, these can be the hardest memories of all to shake. Memories of past wrongs. Echoes of hurtful things said and done to us. The pain of things we have done to hurt others and even ourselves. These are the things we don't want to remember, things we wish we could forget. We throw around the aphorism "forgive and forget" like some sort of magical stardust that suddenly makes things right. Some even say that if we don't forget, we never truly forgive. Robert Emerson praised the man whose "heart was as great as the world but there was no room in it to hold the memory of a wrong." And Alexander Pope said, "To err is human. To forgive divine." These are lofty ideals indeed, but I'm afraid it is not always as simple as that. God gives us the capacity to forgive, to move past painful events, to resolve hurtful issues. But He doesn't give us amnesia to go along with it! It is when I recognize my own such limitations that I am even more in awe of God. He is what we can never be. He does what none of us can ever do. All of Scripture tells us this. I am so grateful, then, that God is able to both forgive and to forget, and that He does not hold our transgressions against us. Although He will remember His covenants and His love for us forevermore, it is our sins He will remember no more (Isaiah 43:25). This is the one thing in life that is worth remembering.
Yes, there is much worth remembering in life. But there is a great deal more which is not worth remembering at all. Unfortunately, these can be the hardest memories of all to shake. Memories of past wrongs. Echoes of hurtful things said and done to us. The pain of things we have done to hurt others and even ourselves. These are the things we don't want to remember, things we wish we could forget.
We throw around the aphorism "forgive and forget" like some sort of magical stardust that suddenly makes things right. Some even say that if we don't forget, we never truly forgive. Robert Emerson praised the man whose "heart was as great as the world but there was no room in it to hold the memory of a wrong." And Alexander Pope said, "To err is human. To forgive divine." These are lofty ideals indeed, but I'm afraid it is not always as simple as that. God gives us the capacity to forgive, to move past painful events, to resolve hurtful issues. But He doesn't give us amnesia to go along with it!
It is when I recognize my own such limitations that I am even more in awe of God. He is what we can never be. He does what none of us can ever do. All of Scripture tells us this. I am so grateful, then, that God is able to both forgive and to forget, and that He does not hold our transgressions against us. Although He will remember His covenants and His love for us forevermore, it is our sins He will remember no more (Isaiah 43:25). This is the one thing in life that is worth remembering.